Sepia Saturday 221 : 29 March 2014

When I previewed this Sepia theme image a few weeks ago I suggested "floods, water, weather, floating cars and sepia skies" as possible interpretations. Looking back at this list now, I have to say that I, for one, am heartily sick of the first four on the list and I suspect the last suggestion is somewhat inaccurate. Those aren't sepia skies they are a kind of faded pink skies. But here at Sepia Saturday there is no such thing as a mistake, merely a new potential interpretation. So you can add to the list strange tints and colours in old photographs. I chose this particular photograph for a theme because it comes from a new contributor to Flickr Commons - the Provincial Archives of Alberta, Canada. Lovers of old photographs everywhere should celebrate every time museums, archives and galleries add their digitised image collection to Flickr for the free enjoyment of everyone rather that burying them within a barbed-wire corset of copyright laws. The photograph shows a barge moving cars to dry land during the waterways floods of 1936. Whatever your interpretation of the image all you have to do is to post a post on or around Saturday  29 March 2014 and then link to the list below. Before you put your wellies on and wade into this week's post, take a look at what is to come over the next couple of weeks:-

222 - 5 April 2014 : Our image features a couple of guys who look like they live dangerously. So our theme could point you in the direction of dangerous activities of all types

223 - 12 April 2014 : I was quite taken with the idea of a quartet of photographs displayed together, but you might want to focus on home town or hotels or main streets or even Tasmania

That is what awaits you when the flood waters of your current challenge eventually fall. But, for now, go with the flow and join us with Sepia Saturday 221.

Sepia Saturday 220 : 22 March 2014

Our sepia friend Postcardy suggested statues and monuments as a theme for this week and also pointed us in the direction of this 1914 photograph of the Jefferson Statue in Columbia (which is taken from the Library of Congress collection on Flickr Commons). Photographers of all ages and all times have always been drawn to statues : there is nothing like a mounted equestrian hero or a stone-clad voluptuous heroine to get the camera shutters clicking. So for Sepia Saturday 220 (post your posts on or around Saturday 22 March 2014) all you have to do is to highlight an old photograph which in any convoluted way fits in with the theme image and tell us a little about it. Post your post, link your link, visit your visitors and help make Sepia Saturday a monument to blogging nostalgia.

But before you adopt a frozen stance for eternity, take a look at what is around the sepia corner for the next couple of weeks:

221 - 29 March 2014 : Floods, water, the weather, floating cars, sepia skies : the choice is yours.

222 - 5 April 2014 : Our image features a couple of guys who look like they live dangerously. So our theme could point you in the direction of dangerous activities of all types

Such things are for the future. It is now time to look out all those monuments to a sepia age.

Sepia Saturday 219 : 15 March 2014

We have Wendy Mathias to thank for our Sepia prompt once again this week and she points us in the direction of domes, ceilings, arches, and significant buildings. The dome in question is that of the Reading Room of the Library of Congress in Washington. There is a rather pleasing pattern to the image - which dates from the very beginning of the twentieth century - so you might want to add patterns to the list of possible interpretations. Whichever direction you decide to go in, all you have to do is to post your post to your blog on or around Saturday 15 March 2014 and then link it to the Linky List below.

Here is a look forward at the next couple of Sepia Saturday prompts:

220 - 22 March 2014 : Statues and monuments feature in this theme suggestion from Postcardy and there are chairs and flags there as well.

221 - 29 March 2014 : Floods and water are possible interpretations for our theme picture this week

Now put all thoughts of statues and flooded fields aside and come back inside under that fine symmetrical dome and get your posts ready for Sepia Saturday 219.

Sepia Saturday 218 : 8 March 2014

We have Sepian Wendy Mathias to thank for our theme image this week. It is from a series of images showing the areas in Sydney affected by the outbreak of Bubonic Plague in 1900. Wendy suggests fences, back yards or bubonic plague as possible theme suggestions, but, as usual, the choice is yours. All you need to do is to find an old image - whether it is linked to the theme image or not - say a few words about it, post your post on your blog on or around Saturday 8 March 2014, and then add a link to the list below. And if the search for a matching image leaves you pulling your hair out, you can always get your revenge on Wendy and the rest of us by suggesting a theme image yourself. Just drop me an e-mail with a link to the image you want to suggest (please make sure the image is either one of your own or a copyright free one).

Before you fence yourself in with potential images for Sepia Saturday 218, here is a quick preview of what is to come in the next couple of weeks.

Sepia Saturday 219 - 15 March : Domes, ceilings, arches, significant buildings (Again with thanks to Wendy Mathias)

Sepia Saturday 220 - 22 March : Statues and monuments feature in this theme suggestion from Postcardy and there are chairs and flags there as well.

But now, back to this week. Back in your own back yard. Back to the Sepia Past. 

Sepia Saturday 217 : 1 March 2014

Once again hats feature in our Sepia Saturday theme image, but this week let's take our hats off and see what else there is in the picture. Well there is a telescope and there is a mountain and there are three great composers (yes Mike Brubaker, your Christmas and Birthday have come all at once!). The picture, which was taken around 1900, shows Julius Röntgen, Frants Beyer & Edvard Grieg on Mount Løvstakken in Norway. If all that music and that weighty telescope is not enough for you, you might want to note that as well as composing music, Frants Beyer was also a tax inspector and therefore you might want to scan your grandad's tax returns and submit them to the Sepia Exchequer. However you decide to interpret this fine old photograph (which comes from the collection of Bergan Public Library on Flickr Commons), just post your post on or around Saturday 1 March 2014, link it to the list below and take a look to see what else you can see on the Sepia Saturday Blog.

But first of all take a look at what is coming in the weeks ahead:

Sepia Saturday 218 - 8 March 2014 : Fences, backyards and Bubonic Plague are amongst the possible themes from this prompt (With thanks to Wendy Mathias).

Sepia Saturday 219 - 15 March : Domes, ceilings, arches, significant buildings (Again with thanks to Wendy Mathias - and if anyone else has suggestions for themes let me have them, preferably copyright-free images)

So, to the haunting refrains of the Peer Gynt Suite, get out your sepia telescopes and see what you might have to offer for Sepia Saturday 217.

s to the Edvard Grieg Archives at Bergen Public Library

Sepia Saturday 216 : 22 February 2014

Ever since photography was knee high to a grasshopper, the suit has been the be-all and end-all of masculine fashion. And our theme image for Sepia Saturday 216 (post your posts on or around Saturday 22 February) celebrates the suit : or rather three suits, or rather three three-piece suits. And for good measure there are three wonderful hats as well (why is it that the drab suit has stood the test of time whilst the far more practical and visually expressive hat has not?). If you don't like suits and hats you can always focus on the group of three. Or you can hunt out any other potential prompt within this picture by that old Sepia Saturday favourite Sam Hood (1872-1953) which features in the Australian National Maritime Museum collection on Flickr Commons. Regular Sepians will know what to do : post your post and then link to the list below.

Before you put on your hat and get ready to go, have a look at what is coming up on Sepia Saturday over the coming weeks.

Sepia Saturday 217 - 1 March 2014 : Hopefully we have not had this before : three men hiking up a mountain with a big telescope, one of them being a famous composer.

Sepia Saturday 218 - 8 March 2014 : Fences, backyards and Bubonic Plague are amongst the possible themes from this prompt (With thanks to Wendy Mathias).

Who says Sepia Saturday never throws up any challenging prompts! - that is famous composers with large telescopes and bubonic plague all in the space of a fortnight. There should be something there to suit everybody - and whilst we are talking of suits ....

Sepia Saturday 215 : 15 February 2014

Our theme image this week features a picture postcard view of Jamaica Street, Glasgow (from the National Gallery of Scotland stream on Flickr Commons). I am not expecting people to match the Glasgow theme, or indeed the Jamaica theme, although knowing the resources and imagination of Sepians, I wouldn't be too surprised if some people took up such a challenge. The thing that came to my mind when I first saw the image was the crowds : we always tend to think of crowded streets as being something new, something twenty-first century, but clearly that isn't the case. As always, you can go in whichever direction you want to, simply post a post on or around Saturday 15 February and link to the list below.

But before you run off to catch a horse tram, take a look at our crowded agenda for the weeks to come.

Sepia Saturday 216 - 22 February 2014 : Three men in suits, three men in hats, three men ....

Sepia Saturday 217 - 1 March 2014 : Hopefully we have not had this before : three men hiking up a mountain with a big telescope, one of them being a famous composer. 

There we go. It's time to join the crowds and get your Sepia Saturday posts ready.